Chapter 76: The Mask’s Final Curse


    <hr>


    Silence hung over the battlefield.


    The Black Gull’s leader was dead.


    His body had crumbled into nothing, erased by my newfound power.


    And yet…


    Something wasn’t right.


    A low, wet squelching sound filled the air.


    I turned—


    And saw his mask still intact, lying in the blood-soaked dirt.


    The golden surface twitched.


    Then, it breathed.


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    A Last-Ditch Horror


    <blockquote>


    "You… thought this was over?"


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    </blockquote>


    The voice didn’t come from any living throat.


    It came from the mask itself.


    Its golden surface split open, revealing a writhing mass of teeth, eyes, and shifting black tendrils.


    Then, with a sickening crack, it grew.


    Expanding.


    Mutating.


    Until it towered above us, a colossal, nightmarish fusion of the Black Gull leader’s will and the abyssal entity he had served.


    A grotesque, shifting form, humanoid only in mockery, its body covered in golden masks, each one contorted into a different expression of agony.


    It had no single mouth—it had thousands.


    It had no single voice—it had an endless chorus.


    And all of them screamed.


    <blockquote>


    "I WILL NOT BE ERASED."


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    <hr>


    The True Final Battle Begins


    The creature lunged, its mass of writhing limbs surging toward us.


    Darius raised his shield, bracing for impact.


    Iris and Zephyr moved to flank.


    Purn roared, his form growing larger, his golden light clashing against the abyssal corruption.


    Lilith’s grin widened. "Oh, what a delightful encore~."


    I stood at the center, gripping my weapon.


    I wasn’t the same Tatsuya I had been minutes ago.


    And this monster?


    It wasn’t going to win.


    I raised my hand—


    And unleashed hell.